Game Update Notes: December 12, 2017

- Ring of Scale, EverQuest's 24th expansion, is launching! Return to Kunark and aid the Combine as they face off against the Sarnak Empire and the Ring of Scale. What will become of the Sarnak Empire? Will dragons reign supreme over Norrath? Only the most powerful of heroes will be able to help the Combine to breach the heart of Veeshan's Peak.
- We have extended the first phase of Frostfell quests. See the Quests and Events section below for details.

*** Ring of Scale ***

- Ring of Scale increases the level cap to 110! New spells, combat abilities, and alternate abilities are available.
- Explore new content as the reborn Combine Empire extends their reach on Kunark!
- - The Sarnak have extended their reach with the new city of Gorowyn, located in one of the Skyfire Mountains.
- - The Combine Empire have begin restoring their former settlement in the Overthere, and have driven some of the former residents underground into the ruins of Charasis. What new horrors await them in Sathir's Tomb?
- - Confront the ultimate power threatening Kunark by assaulting the Ring of Scale's fortress in Veeshan's Peak!

*** Items ***

- Added the buffs granted by the Devourer, Drogan Goblin, and Succulent familiars into a common spell stacking group.
- Changed the proc on Hornscale Blade, Grittooth, Lizard Slayer, Skypiercer, and Shark's Tooth Club to the Highest EoK single hand version of the proc.
- Collectible items now have links in the Lore tab to their associated achievement.

*** Quests And Events ***

- Fixed an error with lockout reduction events that caused some players to get full lockouts.
- Atrebe's Vault (Raid) - The fire and stone dervishes will now wait for 10 seconds before activating their auras. Their auras will pulse half as often. The stone dervish's aura will now work correctly.
- Frostfell - Saving Santug - Gifts are dropping again in Blackburrow, Everfrost, and Permafrost during phase 1.
- Frostfell phase 1 was extended and now runs until the end of the day on 12/20. Frostfell phase 2 picks up on 12/21.

*** Spells ***

- Corrected an issue that prevented detrimental effects from triggering when runes expired (such as in Polyrefractive Rune).
- Spells that stun or increase/decrease hate with your target will now be more likely to stack.
- - This should prevent abilities such as Hallowed Lodestar or spells like Impose for Honor from conflicting when used by multiple casters.
- Paladin - The Preservation of Tunare line of spells will now increase all hatred you generate while active.
- Magician - Increased the base cast time of Monster Summoning VI and later to 8 seconds.

*** AA ***

- Bard, Enchanter - Fierce Eye can no longer be activated while Illusions of Grandeur is active and all ranks of Illusions of Grandeur now prevent Fierce Eye from overwriting it.
- Bard - Changed all ranks of Boastful Bellow to deal more damage initially and significantly more damage after 18 seconds. Scaled down the resist debuff component and added an endurance cost commensurate with the increased damage.
- Bard - Changed all ranks of Vainglorious Shout to function as a multi-target version of Boastful Bellow. This ability now shares a timer with Boastful Bellow.
- Bard - A new ability line named Sonic Disturbance has been created to augment the functionality changes to Boastful Bellow.
- Bard - Adjusted the stacking on Bladewhirl (the debuff triggered from Dance of Blades) to better coexist with other debuffs.
- Bard - Rallying Solo and Rallying Call (for bard targets) now function the same as Rallying Call for non-bard targets, increasing mana regeneration for the duration rather than restoring mana when the ability is first cast. Increased the amount of mana restored by Rallying Solo and Rallying Call (for bard targets). Adjusted the amount of mana and endurance Rallying Call consumes to be 50% of the amount restored.
- Beastlord - Made the following changes to Feral Swipe, Bite of the Asp, Raven's Claw, Gorilla Smash, Frenzied Swipe, and Hastened Feral Attacks:
- - Round kick can now be used starting at level 65; Feral Swipe is now a passive ability that adds an additional skill attack when using Round Kick.
- - Eagle Strike can now be used starting at level 70; Bite of the Asp is now a passive ability that triggers damage over time when using Eagle Strike.
- - Tiger Claw can now be used starting at level 70; Raven's Claw is now a passive ability that triggers an additional skill attack and attack debuff when using Tiger Claw.
- - Dragon Punch (or Tail Rake) can now be used starting at level 70; Gorilla Smash is now a passive ability that triggers an additional skill attack and stun when using Dragon Punch (or Tail Rake).
- - Added additional ranks to Feral Swipe, Bite of the Asp, Raven's Claw, and Gorilla Smash that increase the effectiveness of each ability in place of the hastening previously offered by Hastened Feral Attacks.
- - Frenzied Swipe now reduces the reuse time of Round Kick by 3 seconds.
- Beastlord - Veteran's Wrath now modifies the critical damage of strike and kick attacks. This ability line was refunded with this change.
- Beastlord - Destructive Cascade is now available to be trained.
- Berserker - All ranks of Distraction Attack have been changed to passive abilities that can be toggled.
- Enchanter - Consolidated Edict of Command to be ranks of Dire Charm. Targets charmed by ranks 2+ of this ability that are level 46 or lower will now be permanently charmed.
- Enchanter - Consolidated Illusory Ally to be ranks of Doppelganger. Pets summoned by Doppelganger have gained the ability to cast any single target direct damage or stun spell that their owner currently has memorized. Starting at rank 20 Doppelganger will summon 3 pets.
- Enchanter - Ranks 4-6 of Soothing Words now reduce the reuse time by 10 minutes per rank, rank 13 by 1 minute, bringing the final reuse time down from 20 minutes to 5 minutes.
- Enchanter - Reduced the armor class debuff on Waking Nightmares, the debuff component of Noctambulate, to better reflect NPC armor class values.
- Enchanter - Increased the range on Tashan's Lingering Cry to ensure it lands at the maximum range that Tashan can be cast.
- Magician - Heart of Flames is no longer restricted to fire-based spells.
- Magician - Increased the duration of Heart of Flames, Vapor, Ice, and Stone as you purchase some ranks.
- Magician - Modified the damage focus component of Elemental Union to stack with Heart of Flames and reduced the damage focus percentage. Increased the duration of the ability at some ranks, added a critical chance increase for all ranks, and added a base mana cost increase component to the ability.
- Magician - Consolidated Elemental Ward to be ranks of Shield of the Elements. Reduced the initial reuse time of the ability, extended its duration, improved its stacking to better coexist with other spell and melee guard buffs, and scaled back the elemental damage reduction.
- Magician - Renamed Mana Reserve to Elemental Conversion. Removed the restriction that you must be below 20% mana to activate the ability. The ability now consumes health from your summoned companion in order to restore your mana.
- Monk - Increased the duration of ranks 3-13 of Destructive Force and Focused Destructive Force by 6 seconds.
- Monk - Reduced the initial reuse time of Imitate Death by 30 seconds.
- Monk - Added additional ranks to Distant Strike which can now be obtained starting at level 65.
- Necromancer - Reduced reuse time of Death Bloom from 10 minutes to 6 minutes, increased the health/mana values of ranks 4 and 6, and refunded Death Blossom.
- Necromancer - Consolidated Overpower Undead to be ranks of Dead Mesmerization.
- Necromancer - Hand of Death now focuses damage over time spells with a minimum duration of 12 seconds rather than 24 seconds.
- Ranger - Reduced the mana cost for rank 10 of Poison Arrows from 1036 to 900.
- Ranger - Destructive Cascade is now available to be trained.
- Shaman - Consolidated Armor of Ancestral Spirits to be ranks of Ancestral Guard.
- Wizard - Arcomancy, Cryomancy, and Pyromancy now share a 2 minute recast timer.

*** NPCs ***

- All NPC Guildmasters can now train players in all skills available to the class.

*** Mercenaries ***

- Players who are only grouped with a mercenary no longer have to confirm before merging with another group.
- Added the mercenary AA ability Essence of the Dragon. It can be purchased for 0 points once you have obtained the Special Progression AA ability Essence of the Dragon.

- Made the following adjustments to the Intimidation skill:
- - Corrected a longstanding bug that prevented the attacker from playing the cry animation after failed Intimidation attempts.
- - Increased the reuse time of this skill to 30 seconds.
- - Increased the skill-up rate for Intimidation by approximately 300%.
- - Increased the chance that Intimidation will succeed and introduced a bonus for being a higher level than your target.
- Fixed a periodic zone crash that could occur when leveling up while having a mercenary casting multi-target spells.
- Fixed an issue that caused errors when dismounting if 'Hidecorpse Always' was enabled.

*** UI ***

- The Merchant Window cost column is now right justified.
- Added a default text color for the UI.
- Addressed some button color inconsistencies throughout the UI.
- Right-clicking and holding on any item in the merchant window will now bring up a temporary inspect window.
- Merchant quantities will now correctly update when a player purchases stackable items.
- Fixed an issue that caused Adventure merchants to charge an incorrect price for items.
- Fixed an issue where shared loot was not being properly removed from the Advanced Loot Window when a group joined a raid.
- Fixed an issue where players joining a raid could not see pre-existing items in the Advanced Loot Window.
- Added a new label type for spell gem 13 (414).
- Added support for an additional spell gem.
- Added 20 additional pages to the spellbook.
- You will no longer see a message when deleting an empty bandolier set.
- Corrected an issue that would truncate item names in the message displayed when destroying them.
- Fixed an issue that could cause the client to crash if the description of a combat ability exceeded 512 characters.
- Added the ability to scroll and resize the description area of the Combat Skills window.
- Added more information to the server select screen message when multiple sessions are detected on your account.
- Clicking a spell link in the spell description window will now properly open a spell description window instead of adding a link to the spell in chat.